


Unit 1608

by cylite



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Baltimore Crabs (Blaseball Team), Domestic, Gen, Post-Ascension, Pre-blaseball, implied gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29091768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cylite/pseuds/cylite
Summary: Adalberto Tosser rents an apartment in Baltimore and over the course of 11 seasons it holds something remarkable - until it doesn't anymore.Five short scenes in Adalberto's apartment.
Relationships: Brock Forbes/Adalberto Tosser
Kudos: 9





	Unit 1608

\--1--

The first time Adalberto opens the door of unit 1608 he would literally take anything at this point. He was given two weeks to vacate his old dorms, and not many people were about to offer a room to the guy whose reputation was mostly based on what he got up to while very drunk at an assortment of college parties and pieces so inspired that they got him kicked out of Maryland Institute College of Art.

The super coughs behind him to remind Adalberto that she’s there, and he stops standing in the door. He steps into the front hallway. It’s bigger than he probably needs, and nicer than he should be able to afford, which raises a lot of red flags, but he can move in this week, and that’s at the top of his list of priorities. 

“Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, so it’s bigger than you need, but it’s the only unit I have that is ready to be rented out this week.” All of this was in the listing, but he guesses that this is part of her routine with new tenants so he listens patiently. “You’re welcome to take a look around – just let me know if you have any questions. He takes his time touring the apartment. It’s not that big so he’s not really sure what he’s looking for yet. He tries to subtly google some things on his phone. 

Adalberto has made his way into the bathroom and is running the taps, so he can’t hear the superintendent when she says something from out in the hallway. He turns off the tap. “What?” 

“I hear that blaseball is coming back,” she, presumably, repeats. 

“Yeah? Well that should be interesting, it will be good to have something to watch again I guess.”

She looks at him expectantly. “With an arm like that I’m sure you could make the team. Must have one hell of a pitch.”

Adalberto is a little taken aback at the comment. His arm has always been a strange form of carcinization, but nothing worth commenting on. 

Handy for getting things off shelves though. 

“You know–” he starts, trying to smooth over his discomfort. “I never really thought about it. Besides, there's no way of knowing if we’d even get a team.” 

She hums noncommittally and he feels like he’s missing something. 

“So do you want it?” she asks. 

“What? I mean it would be nice to have a local team to cheer for but worst case I could always cheer for–”

“The apartment,” she interrupts, not unkindly. 

“Oh. Right. I mean yes. I’d be interested in applying for it if you’re still offering. 

“Then it’s yours.” 

Adalberto narrows his eyes at that. “Don’t you need to like, check my credit or something first?” 

“No.” 

“Uh okay? Sounds good? I guess I’ll take it then,” Adalberto says, adding that to the list of red flags he’s choosing to ignore. 

“Perfect. I’ll get your signature here Mr. Tosser, and I’ll remind you that try-outs are next weekend. Best of luck! I know you’ll do great out there!” 

\--2--

Adalberto is carrying one of Brock's alarmingly few boxes of belongings under one arm and pushing the door of unit 1608 open with the other, catching it awkwardly with his foot to drag it the rest of the way open.

“Well, here it is! It’s not much but uh–” he quickly kicks assorted hallway junk out of the way. “Ta-da?” he offers hesitantly. 

Brock stands in the door for a minute and takes it in, and Adalberto tries not to feel self-conscious about the mess. He’s been meaning to get the place organized. And to rent out the second room actually. There's just been a lot happening ever since he joined the Crabs and there wasn’t a lot of time to spend cleaning. Plus with all the prep work for the thing with the Crab Mother… 

His eyes drift back to Brock. 

It's weird seeing him like this. All rock and exposed geode where there used to be flesh and carapace. He wonders if it hurt. Probably not a thing he should ask. Though honestly Brock would probably rather he was direct about it. Unless Brock just doesn’t want to talk about it at all. Does he need to add gem polish to his toiletries? Oh yeah, okay, now he's definitely been staring for too long because Brock has definitely noticed. 

Brock gives him an even look. After the last couple days he just looks resigned. “Bertie, it’s okay – I really appreciate the offer, but if you’re not comfortable with me here after everything that happened I understand.” 

“No no no, it’s not that! “ he corrects quickly. “I’m just– You look tired, that’s all.” He takes the box back into the second bedroom, which is mostly clean. “Honestly it’s kind of nice! I’ve needed a roommate for a while and it’s either you or Tillman.” 

Brock cracks just the smallest of smiles. “Yeah, honestly I think I’d have to have done a lot worse to make you want Tillman instead.” 

“Exactly!” He turns to Brock. “Seriously, we’re friends – I’m not about to leave you on your own when you’ve got all this shit to work though. I’d rather be here with you now than only getting to see you at practice.” 

It’s quiet for a bit and he almost thinks that Brock might have gone out to get another box, but when he gets back to the hallway Brock is looking past him with his eyes unfocused. 

Adalberto leaves him some space; Combs warned him about this. He's somewhere else right now, and he might need some help getting back. “Brock?” he tries, keeping his voice as even as he can manage. 

He doesn’t turn to him, and it’s a few seconds before he starts talking. “You know you always offer me a place to stay. In every permutation of this, you always try to help.” 

“Sorry Brock – looks like we’re stuck together no matter what timeline you’re in.” 

“It’s nice. There aren’t a lot of consistencies out there. I’m glad you're one of them.” 

Adalberto can feel his face heating up. Only Brock can say this kind of thing with a straight face. 

Brock does break into a proper grin now. “You also always let me smoke in here – that’s an important part of it as well” 

Adalberto smiles back. At least this is familiar territory. “Fuck off, you know that will lose me my deposit. We have a balcony; use it.” 

Brock shrugs at that. “It was worth a shot.” 

\--3--

Adalberto opens the door of unit 1608 with a duffle bag over his shoulder and Brock following closely behind. The two of them just finished their rotation at the Crabitat. It’s not a bad place to spend a couple weeks, and everyone has to take their turn to make sure that they can spring the place into action as soon as they need to, whenever that is. 

The first thing Adalberto sees is Tot, sitting on the floor of the entryway with his ears straight up and his black eyes staring up at him mischievously. 

Adalberto considers this. He’s almost certain he locked the door when they left. In fact, even if he hadn’t, he’s _sure_ he closed it. 

He tries to imagine Tot opening a door. He and Brock had cautiously approached the idea of installing pet doors for him, but he preferred to just make noise at the door until someone opened it – so Adalberto _assumes_ Tot can’t just open doors. 

He stares into Tot’s far too intelligent eyes. Tot stares back at him. 

The kettle whistles from the kitchen and Tot tilts his head innocently. 

_How the fuck–_

__

__“Oh, Bertie! Brock! You’re home!” Finn calls from the kitchen.

 _Oh, yeah okay that makes more sense. But not_ that _much more sense._

“Finn, why are you in our house?” Brock nudges him from the back to move him through the doorway. He doesn’t sound mad or anything, he rarely does actually, but he does sound cautiously curious, like he’s not quite sure if there’s a right answer to this question. 

“I’m house sitting! Watering your plants! Do you want something to drink? The kettle just boiled.” Finn seems to be enjoying the moment as she rounds the corner with one of Pedro’s Port Discovery mugs and tosses what looks like a used tea bag into her mouth. Adalberto wishes he hadn’t seen her eat worse. 

“Finn, we don’t have any plants, all our mail is still in the box outside, and I don’t think we ever gave you a key,” Adalberto says, making quick eye contact with Brock to check. _We didn’t, right?_

Brock nods back. 

Fin tilts her head back to laugh. “Well, _no,_ I didn’t do any of that, but I _could_ have been helping!” she offers. This is remarkably unhelpful. 

“Did Ken kick you out or something? Is that why you’re here now?”

“Oh no, I just wanted a change of scenery, and I know Tot crashes here sometimes, so I figured you wouldn't mind.”

“Tot is a 20 pound forest creature who minds his manners. You’re a menace,” Adalberto points out. 

“Please!” she begs. “Ken keeps trying to teach me how to quilt, I’m going to lose my mind if I spend one more day in his spare room!” 

Luckily Adalberto and Brock have long since mastered the art of having a conversation in public with only their eyes. Adalberto starts. 

_We don’t have another bedroom._

__

__

_This is Finn – she’ll sleep in the bathtub._

_We only have two bathrooms._

_She’s our friend, and she probably won’t stay for too long before she gets bored._

__

__

__Adalbetro considers this.

_Okay, but you’re using all those idol payouts to cover our water bill._

_Deal._

“Alright, we’ll get you a key. But no more breaking into our apartment, okay?”

She smiles wide, showing off a row of her powerful sharp teeth. “Aw, I knew it! You guys are the best! The B&B house – now with special guest; Finn James!” She seems extremely pleased with herself, but stops for a moment to make a correction. “And for the record I did not break into your apartment – Tot let me in.” 

\--4-- 

Adalberto opens the door to unit 1608 at five in the morning after the season 9 finals and he is not in a great place. He’s mostly sobered up at this point but he was honestly debating crashing in Ken’s spare room over coming back to the apartment. 

It's been a long season and it's been draining on all of them. He swore with Axel gone he was pulling twice as many shifts on the mound than he was supposed to be and the rest of the rotation noticed. Brock almost picked a fight with an Umpire over it which was a good way to get himself killed. 

And after that disaster of a series Brock had the nerve to apologize to _him_ like _he_ wasn’t the one that cost the team the game. Like _he_ wasn’t the reason they weren’t ascended. 

He can feel himself getting worked up over it already. Coming back was a bad idea. 

“Bertie?”

 _Shit, Brock is still awake._

He was hoping he’d be in bed right now. He doesn’t have the energy for another shouting match, and frankly he wanted to avoid _this_ conversation for as long as possible. 

Brock is sitting in their living room. Luckily it’s dark enough in here that he hasn’t noticed what’s wrong yet, so he keeps going. “Look, I’m sorry about before. I know that it’s been a rough season for you, and even if I’m trying to help I might just be–” 

As Adalbero walks in he stops. 

Adalberto is unbalanced. He’s cradling his right arm against his chest, or at least what’s left of it. 

Brock takes a second to stare before he gets his composure back. 

“Fuck.” 

This about sums up what Adalberto has been feeling for the last hour or so. 

“What happened?” he probes cautiously. 

“I’m not sure honestly. It’s way too early for me to be molting but… I passed out in a ditch, somewhere. And by the time I got up it was itching like mad, then the whole thing just– came off.”

“Fuck,” he repeats. 

“Yeah.” 

Brock sighs. “Look Bertie–”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he interrupts.“The Olde One gave me this, then I fucked up so she took it away. It’s as simple as that.” He knows he’s raising his voice but he can’t find it in himself to care right now. 

Brock stills. “Bertie, that’s not how it works.” He’s quiet. There’s an edge to his voice. “She’s been dead a long time now.” 

“Yeah, well what the hell else could it be?” 

Brock looks like he’s going to answer for a moment, but it passes. 

The apartment is quiet for a few long minutes before Brock gets up. Adalberto is still standing in the doorway. He hasn’t come any further since he first walked in. He’s still holding his key. 

Brock takes a few slow steps towards him and makes eye contact. He pulls him into a tight hug and Adalberto takes a second before reciprocating. His right arm hangs at his side, but he wraps his left around Brock. 

“I’m sorry this happened.”

“Yeah. Me too.” 

They stay there for a while before pulling apart. By mutual agreement that’s the last they say on the topic. Somehow Adalberto is dreading the team brunch tomorrow even more than he was at the start of the evening. 

Brock hasn’t let go of his good hand.

They end up falling asleep on the couch watching reruns of some shitty old sci-fi show that Brock likes and that’s where they are when Kennedy knocks at their door early the next morning to help with brunch. 

He’s not really ready to talk about it yet but the tides don’t wait for you to be ready for them either, so he gets up anyway. At least he’s got a rock to keep him steady. 

\--5--

It’s been months since anyone has been in 1608. Technically no one has been paying rent for a while but the super isn’t looking for a new tenant. 

She goes in there after a week and clears out the fridge. Puts the mail inside. 

After another week she dusts.

She visits the telescope with the rest of the city and leaves behind a sculpture she procured from the Maryland Institute College of Art many years ago. It sits between some blaseball paraphernalia, a few handwritten letters, and a Tarot deck someone has left with a note taped to it. 

She thinks of the team that left, and wonders if they’ll be the same one that comes back down.

She thinks of the investors eyeing the quiet Crabitat with open hunger and wonders if the city will be the same one that the team left. 

With nothing else to do but wait she gathers herself up and heads back to her building.

**Author's Note:**

> Brock and Bertie are just so excellent, and their little apartment set up is one of my favorite things to think about, and no I don't have a definitive answer to if Tot Fox and open doors. Some things you just need to leave up to your reader's interpretations. 
> 
> Also turning the telescope into a memorial for the Crabs has been something people mentioned in the Crabitat server several times and it's just *clenches fist* so good.


End file.
